Benjamin Thompson stared blankly at the vending machine in front of him, which displayed various kinds of sandwiches with a very pathetic appearance and sizes that could not possibly fill his stomach after the second hour of the class ended. He swallowed again and again, thinking of two sandwich options that would at least fill his stomach.
First, his choice fell on a sweet strawberry jam sandwich, which was obviously unlikely to be his choice. He had never liked sweet food for the long time he remembered. The problem was, that sandwich had a distinct advantage over the array of sandwiches waiting for him to choose them. In a sense, it had much brighter prospects. Or at least that was what he wanted to believe because that strawberry sandwich would fill his stomach with its large size and the price was very affordable for the size of his wallet.
The choice of both fell on the tuna with mayonnaise sandwich. The deathly combination would be melt and gave his tongue satisfaction for their perfect combination. But the size was no bigger than his fist, and the high price would cost him his weekly allowance for a week. In short, it would kill him instantly if he chose to buy it. If he chose the tuna sandwich, then he must be prepared not to eat anything on Friday.
So, what he was facing right now can be equals to choosing between his life and death. His lunch life hinged on those two sandwich choices.
"Why don't you eat in the cafeteria?"
His mind was distracted for a moment to a question that had just been asked by a man, who managed to completely destroy the high school life he had been waiting for in just five minutes of the meeting, which he regretted that in a second.
Yes, there was nothing wrong with his description before. Because all he said was the reality that he had to face it since this week. The bitter pill forced him to swallow it hard. Thanks for the existence of a student known as a bad boy but always got the first rank in every exam that their school held—Adolph Weissmann—made him successfully becoming the centre of attention of everyone at his school. Thanks to that man, he could no longer live in the quiet peace of his high school life without causing him much trouble and attention. Just like as he always dreamed of for a century. It was enough that he had to hide his gay identity in front of everyone—including his parent and also got tired of having to explain to everyone who often mistook him as a twenty-year-old man for his stature that was much bigger and more mature than other children at his age. When in fact, he just turned fifteen years old this year.
Huh…
If only he could turn back time, maybe he would have the option to prevent his hand from pulling the man's hand from last week. If at that time, he had not been fascinated by the figure of Adolph Weissman, who was looking so beautiful wearing a white midi dress along with high heels that showed his long, perfectly hairless legs. Together with the combination of his wavy strawberry blonde hair
it must be a wig as he knew the next day when he met Adolph, the man's natural hair was black
, and simple makeup but still accentuated the man's natural cuteness. Maybe right now, the high school life that he hoped he could still live until he graduated from high school later.
Damn with his destiny...
He turned around to face Adolph, about to express his frustration at having made his life change one hundred and eighty degrees to Adolph when his eyes caught sight of Adolph's face that always looked stern in front of other people, showing an expression that actually made him look very cute in his eyes. He subconsciously found himself gulping many times, focusing mainly on the man's lips.
If ... if only he had a chance to touch those thin lips for just a moment…
He gasped at the time he realized what he had just thought earlier. Immediately, he punched the image of himself still fascinated by Adolph in his mind, punching himself until he was satisfied. Then he put on an annoyed face, trying to remember his feelings of irritation because of the man who always followed him at school since this week.
"Do you think I should answer your question?"
The man suddenly put on a curt expression again as a group of students crossed the corridor near the cafeteria that was rarely passed by students, where they were right now. The group of students looked at them, especially at him, in astonishment but stopped their act quickly as soon as Adolph cast a glare at all of them.
Okay. He did not think that Adolph needed his answer either.
With a heavy heart, imagining that his tongue would have no choice but to meet the food he hated the most for his life, he picked two packs of strawberry sandwiches and walked towards the spot he has always used as his refuge since this week.
The backyard of his school.
Not many people wanted to go and spend their break time at that place. According to the urban legend school that he heard when he set afoot at this school for the first time, there was a rumour that the place was haunted or being cursed. For him, who had never believed in such absurd and illogical things from the start, he was clearly not afraid. Why should he be afraid of something he could not even see?
In fact, it was much scarier to be with the man, who—without saying much—was still following him from behind just like a baby duck. His back could feel that man's gaze that he did not understand the meaning of the man's gaze. Was he waiting for him to divulge the secret he had just learned—the fact that he had run into Adolph dressed in women's clothes?
Maybe so. Maybe the man was scared of him revealing his dark secret. But it did not mean that he could allow Adolph to entered his peaceful life.
Pretending to act as if the man was not nearby, he sat under a shady tree, hiding the hot and scorching sun, with the breeze of Tudur city blowing quite hard even though it was already reached early summer. Reluctantly, he opened the package of bread, ate it solemnly while imagining as if he was currently eating his father's fried chicken.
Or at least that's what he wanted to believe. Unfortunately, he was not the type of person who was gifted with a wild imagination. In an instant, his tongue rejected the strawberry flavour that spread throughout his mouth. He desperately resisted the urge to spit the bread out of his mouth because he did not want to waste the money he had just used to buy this bread, forcing himself to swallow it.
He saw Adolph sitting beside him, watching him with his arms around his knees and his head resting on his knees. It was as if seeing him struggling to digest the sandwich was comforting to Adolph. He grumbled now, feeling offended by the man's gaze. Still trying to ignore the man's existence, he ate the first bread until gone from his sight.
"What?"
The man gasped for a moment, then fell silent again, did not try to answer his question. It was like talking with a stone, but worse than that. Those big, brown eyes kept locked on him, making him felt uneasy. Once again, he tried to ignore the existence of one of the creatures who belong to the categories he did not want to approach during his high school years while devouring his second sandwich. This time, he did it at full speed, so his tongue would not have to get in touch with the strawberry jam sandwich for too long.
He hastily crumpled the eco-friendly plastic wrap that wrapped the bread with all his might after finishing all his sandwich, cursing the words 'healthy food for all of us' engraved on the front of the package. If that was what it called by being healthy, then he would get sick rather than eating them at once!
Satisfied with cursing the damn sandwich package in his mind, he left his place, looked for a trash can not far from him, then returned to the man who was still waiting for him in his place.
***
